Friends, have you noticed, that these male spiritual teachers, when out of control, show these familiar behaviors?


* Seeking access to as many women as possible (spread that DNA far and wide!)

* All other males subordinate

* Ejecting younger males ('adharmic')


It is Corboy's opinion that this does not resemble enlightened teacher behavior.

It resembles typical ape behavior.

Only things missing are hooting, total coverage body hair, longer canine teeth and chest thumping.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/01/2019 09:29PM by corboy.

A hard thing to write about....

From Heather

Writing details of my experience with Swartz is not easy. Telling intimate details of how he traumatized me physically can feel embarrassing (when I write on a public forum) and it can also have retraumatizing effects as in panic attacks etc.
However, I feel a civic duty to tell my account to people who may be following him. People need to know who Swartz truly is...not the benign spiritual, father-figure, leader he tries to show himself as...
I hope and pray that people will take a closer look at James Swartz...and dig deep with their feelings to come to the truth on the real character of this leader.

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For clarity's sake, I would like to make a correction to the entry I made yesterday. I first met Swartz in 1979 when I was 14. Over the years I knew him, he assaulted me intermittently. I wrote it was 1979 when "Sandy" took me to the free clinic to get examined...but it was 1981 (when I was 16 years old) that this particular event happened.

As per today there has been 3101 views of this forum thread. I think the message of Heather and those who supported her coming out publicly has been heard.

There will always be people who hide their head in the sand because it is too much of a discomfort to face some facts, conveniently called "illusory" or "lacking proof".

There is a saying: "there is none so deaf as those who will not hear". I have seen that nowhere better and blatanly than on the spiritual scene. It is sad but that is another fact to be observed.

Heather's story is heartbreaking and it may be insensitive of me diverting from that with this post. But I'm trying to untangle the sense from the nonsense in what I've learned from Swartz, and since other readers may trying to do the same, perhaps this post is useful anyways.

I was thinking about this comment James made regarding Gaudapada's commentary on the Mandukya Upanishad:

[youtu.be]

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These guys [referring to Gaudapada et al] who understood what nonduality meant had time on their hands. When you crack the code here, or the code is cracked for you, you've got lots of time on your hands. The danger is what Trungpa used to call "transcendental boredom". You better keep yourself busy because nonduality is boring as hell. And you still got a mind. So they put their mind to work on this teaching, Vedanta. Spiffing it up, buffing it up, explaining the contradictions.

So essentially what he's saying is that enlightenment is boring as hell and when you're enlightened you have to find something to distract your mind from the boredom and that was the motivation for people like Gaudapada to analyze the Upanishads: to stave off boredom. James says Trungpa used to call it "transcendental boredom". Chögyam Trungpa, who was apparently so enlightened and therefore so bored that he had to distract himself by excessively drinking and having sex with his students.

Shouldn't enlightened people be self-satisfied? I chalk these remarks up as another result of James mistaking his own unenlightened state for enlightenment.

Of the Andrew Cohen—James Swartz dynamic, Being “Too Nice,” Cow Pies in Potholes. and more...

One of my dearest friends, someone I’d known for years before I “met” Heather, she is a tall, striking woman. One sees her power in her eyes and hears it in her deep, interesting voice. She called me on Skype from India, and got right to the point. “What is it about Andrew Cohen people that makes them susceptible to someone just as bad or worse, like James Swartz?”

We discussed this for a while. It seems like many Andrew: survivors have gone to Swartz, who they see as a safer, better alternative.

She said, “Going from Andrew Cohen to James Swartz is like going from the frying pan into the fire. You have a chance to jump out of the frying pan, but it might be harder to get out of the fire.”

I told her then what the Hermit had said of Swartz and his followers. He said that following Swartz was like walking down a country road on a nice day and not seeing the pothole because a cow had crapped into it.Then, suddenly, you’re ankle deep in excrement, in pain, and wondering how something that seemed so nice to start with had gone so foul.

She said, “That’s it. He nailed it. But Heather and you and all the forum contributors are trying to warn them. So am I when I meet them. That’s why I’m calling now — frustration. Some get it right away and move on, but a few defend him.”

I replied, “Even the worst have kept some supporters until the end. It seems to be the way of things. We can’t take it personally. Some people are fated, it seems, to do things like go from the abusive Andrew Cohen to the even worse James Swartz. Perhaps things will go better for them in the years to come. We can hope.”

She agreed, and then cleared her throat as shifted the topic. She is one of the most experienced, knowledgeable, and attuned spiritual persons I know, so her next words meant a lot.
“It is obvious to me that you are doing a heroic job in exposing an evil monster, perhaps the most evil Western teacher of any form of advaita that has ever appeared. Also, it's clear that 'Heather's' contributions are powerful and are an important addition, and those other contributors, their contributions are very valuable, too.”

‘Those folks are great, but without Heather, none of this would’ve happened.“ I said that even as my mind was resounding with this profound and wise person having just called James Swartz “perhaps the most evil western teacher of any form of Advaita that has ever appeared.”

She responded, “Of course. Without Heather’s courage, this slimy pseudo-spiritual rapist and conman would have gotten off easy. Now, his own acts are coming back to him, as they should, and always in some way do.”

Then she surprised me. “With all that being said, you’re letting him off easy.”

“What?”

“In a recent post you wrote about Swartz and his issues regarding sex, drugs, fame, power, and money. You let him off too easy on drugs. Heather in the book talked of him whining and groaning at night due to having taken too much cocaine, and he is a known heavy drinker. By just mentioning taking acid with some students, he could try to get away with the Carlos Castaneda defense.”

“He is as much the Don Juan of the Castaneda books as he is Jesus or Vishnu, as he claimed in his attempt at defending himself in the ‘special’ ShiningWorld newsletter in early 2017.”

“That was in the Heather book, too.”

“Yeah. Devon did a great job putting all the articles, deranged messages from Swartz, and everything else together with Heather’s painful story there.”

On Skype I could see her. She looked more thirty than fifty in the sunlight streaming onto her from her lower Himalayan retreat (and I better say that since she will read this).

I said, “Even without Heather’s story, you despise Swartz for his false teachings and his lies. Even before hearing of Heather, the Hermit couldn’t abide him because of his falsifying his spiritual history and knowing distortion of Sanskrit in his attempts to justify his adulterated interpretations. I could have cared less about him until I heard of Heather, and since then ever.ything I’ve learned about him just paints a worse and worse picture.”

She smiled. “It’s too bad back in 2017 your teacher friend talked you out of going to Tiru and confronting the bastard in person.”

I nodded. “I’ve regretted that, too. I was only a day away. But she was right. Swarts would’ve held my questions and accusations against her, and that would’ve been wrong. Really wrong. She hadn’t even heard of Swartz until I brought him up to her.”

“Anybody good, real, and more acclaimed than he is, they have to be attacked, right?”

“ I would’ve hated for her to be attacked because of things I did that she had nothing to do with, but Swarts, at least in public, would never admit it could be an independent person who had simply researched him and found him to be in utter asshole, rather than there being some conspiracy. The only conspiracy is against rapists and fraudulent teachers. If that’s a conspiracy, I am a conspirator.“

“Count me in as a conspirator to, then. Time for Satsang. Gotta go”

“Good luck with the Andrew: Cohen Swartz-ites,”I said.

“That’s mostly on Skype too,” she replied. “Not many of the Cohen or Swartz types around here.” I thought of her at the holy place in the Himalayas in the very warm pre-mojnsoon weather, and of the sincerity and beauty of where she was.

We said our good-byes, disconnected, and I sat there, wondering whether the “evil monster” James Swartz thought that this forum, in looking for and revealing the truth, was being too nice to him

Regarding "transcendental boredom", the Brahma Sutras say, "contact with Brahman is infinite joy". One of the Upanishads speak of levels of happiness in powers of 100 and say that the bliss of Brahman is greater than all those. I very much doubt that someone who finds their state boring is anywhere near enlightenment.

I have to agree with Zizlz and RickArcher,

I cannot comprehend that enlightenment would be 'boring'. That seems like a very silly thing to say.

I am a complete novice, but I have experienced some fleeting 'transcendent' states (these have happened spontaneously and are what led me to become interested in spirituality.)

These transcendent experiences were very clear and bright and beautiful. There was no concept of time passing- time became an irrelevant concept. The world appeared lovely, perfect, whole and very clear, as in, very simple and pure. Everything fit together in a unity and I felt the most beautiful contentment.

I think contentment is the opposite of boredom. When you are bored, then you are super aware of time passing, and every minute feels like an hour. So I don't see how enlightenment or even awakening experiences could be boring.

I think Old James Swartz is talking a lot of bullsh*t actually.

Just it's like when he ridiculed one of his former teachers for 'helping people' -(as was described in a post here on Cult Ed a few weeks back.)

How on Earth can helping people be wrong? No. It is always good to help people, to the best of your ability, when you are able. It doesn't matter if helping others gets in the way of the time you would spend meditating or whatever. Because helping people is also teaching us valuable lessons in humility and service. It is a type of loving service that I believe relates to divine love. Please correct me if I am wrong!

I think James knows less than a complete novice. I think he is really leading people astray.... he will make people very unhappy.

Thank you Rick and Sahara for confirming my suspicions!

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Sahara71
I think James knows less than a complete novice. I think he is really leading people astray.... he will make people very unhappy.

I think you're right! I really feel like I took a wrong turn when I started following his teachings. It's a road leading to a dead end, or rather to a boring, egotistical simulacrum of enlightenment.

This is exactly right. Spiritual by-passing has this boring aspect. Its only partial assimilation of the knowledge needed for enlightenment.

To be enlightened, one must know they are BRahman, and what that means in regard to life. As enlightenement may be about BRahmanm but its not for BRahman. Its for the human in samsara. Or, what appears to be samsara.

To be enlightened the mind has to know what it implies to be BRahman. So, the person should fully understand their limitless nature. THis means the mind has the constant solid thought that the 'I' that is has always referred to is actually not the mind body complex, but BRahman. We call it ananda atma svarupa in sanskrit.

So, the enlightened person rests as ananda atma svarupa. That means they dont need any object, yet can still enjoy any object. So, the mind stops looking outwards. This is the called purna ananda. Resting as ones own limited nature...

...Yes this does mean that everything to be acheived has been acheived, however that is only partial. If it is left at that there would be boredom. EVerything has been achieved and there is no need for anything, yet this is only because of your limitless nature. So how can there be boredom when the mind has fully assimilated in enlightenment that you dont lack anything?? That doesnt make sense. And it's not the way it works.

sahara71's point is good. Vedanta is for the benefit of humanity. Teaching Vedanta is about helping people.

Vedanta teaches that one of the attributes of purna ananda, the limitless known from enlightenment, is the will to help the world.

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Sahara71's raises a good point also about people who feel that things get in the way of meditating, etc. Or any spiritual practice. The path of Vedanta is to enable one to have their whole life as spiritual practice. Indeed, enlightenment shows that since all is Brahman, every single thing is consciousness, then spirituality is all that is.

It's a process, and understandable for one to feel that so called spiritual practice is separate from anything else. And even needs to be 'protected' But it's a sign that there is more to be assimilated. f there is a need to protect any part of spiritual practice it shows that there is not yet assimilation of the knowledge that enlightenment brings.


I will be double posting, have another post i made earlier waiting to be approved . I start making a post and my job side-tracks me so the post sits open half a day waiting to be posted.